Five people killed in Cape Storm

Five people were killed in Cape Town on Wednesday. Four of the deceased were killed in a fire that was allegedly caused by lightning, News24 reports.

The other was killed when a house collapsed on him at Lavender Hill.

Table View Neighbourhood Watch (TVNW) had a busy Wednesday morning removing trees that were blown over in parts of the suburb as an intense storm made landfall.

“We are just cutting some trees down that have fallen in the roads there in the Parklands area, which seems to be the most affected,” said Sean Steyn, as a team of volunteers removed a tree that fell on a house in Sandown road.

Steyn said nobody was injured and the owners were not even aware of it until the clearing crew arrived.

TVNW volunteers were also monitoring the situation for people who might need shelter.

“We’ve also contacted some of the shelters to see if they can help as well.”

There was no flooding yet, but teams were on alert.

Emergency call-outs

On the beachfront, sand blew across the main road, while City of Cape Town workers struggled against the wind to fill blue bags with any debris that had washed up on the beach or had been blown into the road.

City electricians were also parked in the area to be ready for any emergency call-outs, as the weather switched between high winds, hail, drizzle, heavy rain, and bursts of sunshine.

Nearby ,in Dunoon, which is a mixture of shacks and houses extended with clapboard and zinc, the streets were muddy from the overnight rain, but it was business as usual with the first displays of linoleum being put out and a woman braaing sheep heads.

A woman with a baby on her back had to be helped over a tree that had fallen in her shack’s front yard.

“I did not sleep much,” said the woman, who did not want to be identified, as she headed out to buy paraffin.

She said she did not hear the tree fall.

Meanwhile, the extreme weather was drawing people to some of the beaches as they wanted to take pictures to send to relatives upcountry.